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professionalpracticenews

Areyouagold star employer?

challenging to find experienced employees. Having the right mix of employees in your business and the pros and cons of newgraduates versus experienced clinicians is a topic for another day. We do know, however, that aside from the obvious benefits to your business, seeingmore clients and increasedprofitability, aswell as the opportunity to share knowledge and experience, employing staff is time consuming and costly. If you get it wrong it can be disastrous both financially and emotionally. Fortunatelywe often hear good news stories but in an effort to keep it that way, we thought it wouldbe timely toprovide a checklist of what research has identified as the seven best practices of a gold star employer.

There isnodoubt thatmore private practitioners are employing staff whether they are fellow speech pathologists, administrative support staff, other allied health professionals or for those of youworkingwith school aged children tutors and teachers. A recent survey of SPAmembersworking in private practice found that 30percent of the respondents employed staff. Themajority, 94percent, of those employing staff indicated that they had a small practice (1–4 employees), approximately 5percent were employingbetween 5–9 employees and 1person indicated that their practice employed 10–14 staff. One questionwe didn’t ask in the surveywas howmuch experience employees have. Many private practitioners report a ready andwilling supply of new graduates but that it ismore

Agold star employer’s7 best practices :

1. Recruit the right staff. Staff recruitment is time consuming and costly so you need to get it right. Not only do you need someonewith the right skills they also need the personality to fit your work culture. The first step is todevelop a list of jobduties and expectations and from thiswrite a jobdescription, selection criteria and advertisement. Next develop a staff recruitment process.

5. Provide regular supervision. This provides the employer with the opportunity todemonstrate ideal attitudes andbehaviours, ensure employees are followingpolicies and procedures anddeal with any issues before they become problematic. A specificmeasurable jobdescription can be used to conduct an annual performance review of staff. 6. Foster teamwork. Employing team workapproaches in theworkplace fostersa shared responsibility for client careandoutcomesandapositive workingenvironment. Staffmeetings andacommunicationsmethod for the sharingof informationaswell as team buildingactivities shouldbe regularly scheduled. For larger practices itmay beappropriate toalso involve staff in problem solvinganddecisionmaking. 7. Reward staff. Staff recognition and support goes a longway tomaking staff feel appreciated and valued and thus fosters staff satisfaction. Strategies such as an annual bonus scheme, a system for rewarding years of service, personal touches such as birthday acknowledgements or significant events celebrations are all worth considering. One simple way of supporting staff is tomake sure you provide themwith all of the necessary tools and resources for fulfilling their job.

3. Set realisticworkloads andwork hours. Employees shouldbe offered stable, reliable hours andovertime

shouldbe kept to aminimum. Employersmustmeet the 10

minimum standards outlined in the National Employment Standards and thewages and conditions outlined in theHealthProfessionals andSupport Staff Award (2010). Apaidprobation periodmay be offered. It is illegal to offer an unpaid trial/probation period. 4. Offer professional development andadvancement. Employees should have access to ongoing professional development opportunities by the provision of an annual professional development budget. Employers of a number of staff may also offer in-house professional development sessions and if possible a career structure within your business that offers the opportunity for employees to gain new skills, increase their responsibilities and advance their career.

Include the following steps: seek candidates, manage applicants, conduct interviews and award the position/advise unsuccessful applicants.

2. Provideorientation and training. This is amust for any new employee. Develop an orientation program that provides consistent, comprehensive, and essential information for all new employees and includes an ongoing training schedule. Employers should meet with new staff weekly and have a regular time tomeet with existing employees. Itmay alsobe useful to organise amentor from existing staff

for larger practices or outside the business for smaller practices.

18 SpeakOut April 2014

SpeechPathology Australia